Vented nurser



Feb. 27, 1962 c. MARSH ETAL 3,022,914

VENTED NURSER Filed July 27, 1959 Car/ 6 Mara/7 Frank 5 .50310/7 INVENTORS ATTORNEY llnitedi rates 3,022,914 VENTED NURSER Carl E. Marsh and Frank E. Boston, Ravenna, Ohio, assignors to The Pyramid Rubber Company, Ravenna, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed July 27, 1959, Ser. No. 829,765 11 Claims. (Cl. 215-11) This invention pertains to nursing bottles, better termed nursing units or simply nursers, i.e., a bottle or other container for liquid having a nipple at the mouth of the bottle through which the liquid can be withdrawn. The invention pertains particularly to nursers having some means for admitting air to the nurser as liquid is withdrawn, thereby preventing a vacuum from building up inside.

A vacuum makes it difiicult to suck liquid from a nurser and ultimately causes the nipple to collapse completely, preventing further withdrawal of liquid. When an infant cannot easily suck liquid from the nurser it begins to swallow air which causes stomach distress known as colic.

On the other hand, if a nurser is too freely vented the liquid will flow out of the nipple by gravity without any sucking by the infant. Filling the infants mouth with liquid when it is not prepared to receive it may cause the liquid to run down the windpipe instead of into the stomach, thereby preventing normal respiration and also irritating the lining of the windpipe, this type of distress being known as choking or gagging.

A nurser which is vented sufiiciently to prevent substantial vacuum buildup but not so much as to allow substantial gravity feed may be said to be properly vented. However, the degree of venting corresponding to proper venting may occupy a certain range within which changes in the size of the vent opening will serve to regulate the rate of flow from the nurser.

It is an object of the invention to provide a nurser having venting means which can be adjusted to bring the venting within the proper range.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a nurser having venting means which can be adjusted within the range of proper venting to regulate the rate of liquid flow from the nurser.

It is another object of the invention to provide a nurser which will not leak liquid through the venting means.

A further object of the invention is to provide better means for securing the nipple to the mouth of the liquid container.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof in which FIGURE 1 is a vertical section through a nurser embodying the inventions; and

FIGURE 2 is a top view of a bottle used in the nurser of the invention.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 there is shown a nurser comprising a glass bottle or other liquid container 11, only the upper portion of which is shown. The bottle is provided with a decorative head 12 around its neck and an interrupted screw thread 13 near its mouth. The lip 14 is rabbetted at 15 around its outer periphery, and has a circular groove or passageway 50 spaced away from the inner and outer peripheries of the lip. A radial groove 51 extends radially inwardly from groove 50 to the inner periphery of bottle lip 14, and positioned approximately 180 away from groove 51 is a radial groove 52 extending radially outwardly from groove 50 to the outer periphery of lip 14. It is preferred that grooves 51 and 52 be approximately 180 apart. Air flowing into the nurser through grooves 50, 51, 52 will follow the path of least 3,022,914 Patented Feb. 27, 1962 ice resistance, so that if grooves 51, 52 are not apart, the passageway length is reduced.

Grooves 50, 51, 52 are shown in the drawing as semi-circular in cross-section, however, any other convenient shape, such as triangular or rectangular, may also be used. These grooves are made to a size large enough to allow air to flow through, but insufficient to allow liquid to flow without the application of pressure. When a groove of semi-circular cross-section is used, the cross-section radius should be between about 0.010 inch and 0.020 inch. When a rectangular cross-section is used, the groove should have a width of between about 0.020 and 0.040 inch, and a depth between about 0.010 and 0.030 inch. Thus generally the groove width should be between about A and 2 times the depth, and the crosssectional area should be between about 0.00015 and 0.0012 square inches.

Over the mouth of the bottle is disposed a rubber nipple 21. The nipple has a tubular discharge tip 22, the upper end of which is closed except for one or more small discharge openings 21a. The lower end of the tip merges with a hollow hemispherical body portion 23. There is an annular shoulder 24 around the lower part of the body portion 23. The lower end'of the body portion 23 merges with a cylindrical conduit portion 26. At the lower end of the conduit portion is an exterior radial flange 27 which rests on lip -14 of the bottle.

A Bakelite cap 40 holds nipple 21 on bottle 11. The cap has a flat circular disc shaped top portion 41 through the center of which is a hole 42. The thickness of the top portion of the cap is equal to the distance between the top of flange 27 and the bottom of shoulder 24. On the lower face of the top portion 41 is a circular head or axially extending circular flange 43 which has a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of groove 50. Depending from the outer edge of top portion 41 is a cylindrical skirt 44 which has an internal screw thread 45 which meshes with thread 13 of the bottle mouth. Thread 45 is so proportioned as to leave a clearance between it and the bottle neck.

The inner diameter of the skirt 44 is substantially equal to the outer diameter of nipple flange 27, and the diameter of hole 42 is substantially equal to the diameter of cylindrical conduit portion 26, whereby the nipple 21 is positively centered in cap 40 and hence on bottle .11.

In assembling the nurser the nipple tip and body are pushed through the hole in the cap, the nipple collapsing enough to allow shoulder 24 to pass through the hole and then expanding again so that shoulder 24 overlaps the inner periphery of the cap, locking the cap between the nipple flange and the shoulder on the nipple. The cap is then screwed on to the bottle, thereby holding the nipple over the bottle mouth.

Groove 50 forms a passageway between the nipple flange 27 and bottle lip 14. This passageway is of capillary size, i.e., of a size large enough to allow air to flow through, but sufiiciently small that the surface tension of water, milk, fruit juice, or other liquid used in the nurser will not flow through it without the application of more pressure than is exerted by the head of liquid in the bottle when it is inverted. According to this invention, the size of this passageway is adjustable by varying the tightness of cap 40. Tightening of cap 40 causes bead 43 to press into nipple flange 27, thereby causing the lower face 7 ing is desired, cap 40 is tightened only enough to hold the nipple firmly, but when it is desired to slow down the feeding, the cap is tightened further, so that head 43 forces the lower face of the nipple flange into groove 50 and reduces the size of the passageway. This reduces the flow of air, and therefore reduces the flow of liquid from the nurser.

Bead 43 has a dual function. In addition to its being used to regulate the venting, it also serves to lock the flange of the nipple between the cap and the bottle lip, by forcing the lower face of the nipple flange into groove 50.

Due to the capillary size of groove 50, as hereinbefore set forth, liquid in the nurser cannot leak out. Thus a vented nurser is provided in which the degree of venting can be easily regulated, and which will not leak liquid through the venting means.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described. herein, many modifications thereof can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is desired to protect by Letters Patent all forms of the invention falling within the scope of the following claims;

We claim:

1. A nursing unit comprising a bottle, a nipple, and a screw cap, the bottle having a lip having a circular groove therein providing an inner and an outer annular projection, said outer annular projection having a radial groove extending outwardly from said circular groove to the outer periphery of the bottle lip, and said inner annular projection having a second radial groove circumferentially displaced from the first radial groove ex-' tending inwardly from the circular groove to the inner periphery of the bottle lip.

2. A nursing unit as defined by claim 1 wherein said circular groove is of capillary size.

3. A nursing unit comprising a bottle, a nipple, and a screw cap, said bottle having an externally threaded neck, said cap having internal threads mating with the bottle threads, said nipple having a flange adapted to be clamped between said cap and the end of the neck of the bottle, a circular groove in the end of the neck of the bottle providing an inner and an outer annular projection, a radial groove in the outer annular projection extending radially outwardly from the circular groove to the outer periphery of the bottle neck, and a second radial groove circumferentially displaced from the first radical groove in the inner annular projection extending radially inwardly from the circular groove to the inner periphery of the bottle neck.

4 4. A nursing unit as defined by claim 3 wherein said circular groove is of capillary size.

5. A nursing unit comprising a bottle, a cap, and a nipple, said bottle having an externally threaded neck portion, a circular groove in the end of the neck providing an inner and an outer annular projection, said outer annular projection having a radial groove extending outwardly from said circular groove to the outer periphery of the bottle neck, and said inner annular projection having a second radial groove circumferentially displaced from the first radial groove extending inwardly from the circular groove to the inner periphery of the bottle neck; said nipple comprising a tubular portion having an outwardly extending flange, said flange extending outwardly substantially co-extensive with the outer periphery of the bottle neck; said cap comprising a disc shaped top portion having a depending bead on the lower face thereof of a diameter substantially the same as that of the circular groove in the end of the bottle neck, and a depending cylindrical skirt portion having internal threads adapted to engage the threads on the bottle neck.

6. A nursing unit as defined by claim 5 wherein the threads on the bottle neck are interrupted, and the inside diameter of the threads in the cap is larger than the outside diameter of the bottle neck, so that air can pass between the bottle neck and the cap skirt.

7. A nursing unit as defined by claim 5 wherein the circular groove is of capillary size.

8. A nursing unit as defined by claim 7 wherein the threads on the bottle neck are interrupted, and the inside diameter of the threads in the cap is larger than the outside diameter of the bottle neck, so that air can pass between the bottle neck and the cap skirt.

9. A nursing bottle having a neck portion, a circular groove in the end of said neck portion providing an inner and an outer annular projection, said outer annular projection having a radial groove extending outwardly from said circular groove to the outer periphery of the bottle neck, and said inner annular projection having a second radial groove circumferentially displaced from the first radial groove extending inwardly from the circular groove to the inner periphery of the bottle neck.

10. A nursing bottle as defined by claim 9 wherein said circular groove has a cross-sectional area of from about 0.00015 to about 0.0012 square inches, and a width which is from to 2 times the depth.

11. A nursing bottle as defined by claim 9 wherein said circular groove is of capillary sizel References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,998,646 Yager Apr. 23, 1935 2,024,511 Darling Dec. 17, 1935 2,753,067 Rodriquez July 3, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 998,099 France Sept. 19, 19 51 

